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Sunday, July 29, 2018

Welcome Stormy Glenn back to Sunday Spotlight! She's here to share a bit from her upcoming release, FIT TO BE TIED (Cade Creek, 17)coming August 2018

DEA Agent Dan Wilson was just looking for a place to rent. He had no idea that it would bring him the love of his life. When he rented a room in an old Victorian just blocks from work, trouble started the very first day. For one, the guy who rented the room to him wasn't the owner. Waking up in bed with Terry wasn't the worst morning he'd ever had, but learning he had been taken for a fool kind of was.

Terry Iverson is incensed when he learns one of his tenants rented out his bedroom to a stranger, the bedroom he'd lived in his entire life. Of course, if he was going to choose someone to share a room with, it would be the handsome DEA agent. It would be great if he was gay, but Terry was a little too afraid to ask. He was the guy's landlord after all.

When someone starts messing with Terry's life, going from making false accusations of sexual harassment against him to trying to kill him, worrying about dating his tenant seems minor in comparison. If he can make it out of this alive, he just might see if the sexy agent was interested in something more than being roommates.

EXCERPT
Terry groaned as he stretched his legs as far as they would go and flexed his toes. He must have slept forever. He felt better than he had in a very long time. He didn't even remember having any nightmares last night. It wasn't often that he went the whole night without at least one nightmare waking him.
Despite the wintery conditions outside, he was toasty warm. The blankets all wrapped around him and the warm solid body behind him. Terry yelled as he jerked and rolled off the bed, landing on the floor with a solid—and somewhat painful—thud.
There shouldn't be a warm body anywhere near him.
A head appeared over the edge of the mattress. If he hadn't been so freaked out, Terry probably could have enjoyed the amused smile on the man's handsome face, but as it was... "Who in the hell are you and what are you doing in my bed?" Terry snapped.
The arched eyebrow was aggravating.
"I'm pretty sure I should be asking you that question," the stranger said. "I believe you are in my bed, not that I mind, but..."
"Look—" It wasn't until he stood and the man's eyes roamed over him that Terry remembered he was naked. He quickly pulled the top blanket off the bed and wrapped it around his hips. His face flamed. "Look, this is my room. It has been my room since before I was born. You're the trespasser here."
The man frowned. It was the first sign that he'd shown that something might be wrong. Apparently, he was used to naked men waking up in his bed. "Hey, I rented this room fair and square. I have a rental contract and everything."
Terry narrowed his eyes. "What rental contract?"
The guy stared for a moment before rolling to the other side of the bed. Terry caught his breath when the man stood, the blankets sliding away as he started across the room. Had there ever been a more perfect ass ever created? Terry didn't know what this guy did for a living, but he could make a mint as an underwear model.
And, apparently, he wasn't shy. After grabbing something out of his jeans, he walked right back. Sweet mother mercy, the front was just as perfect as the back. Terry was pretty sure when God was handing out dicks, this guy got in line twice. Maybe three times. Nice and long, and just thick enough to make someone really feel it.
Damn.
It really had been a long time.
"I signed that when I rented the room two days ago."
Terry regretfully tore his eyes away from Mr. Perfect Dick and stared down at the papers in his hand. It took his befuddled brain a few moments to understand exactly what he was looking at, but once he did, he was pissed.
"Keith rented this room to you...uh..." I glanced at the paper. "Mr. Wilson?"
"Daniel, please, or Dan, and yeah. Is that a problem?"
"Yes. It's my room." Hell, it was his house. "Keith doesn't have the right to rent you anything. He's a tenant. I'm the owner."
"Oh."
"Did you give him any money?" Terry asked as he handed the rental agreement back to Dan.
"First and last month's rent plus deposit. About fifteen hundred dollars."
"Damn it." Terry started to head for his dresser to grab some jeans when he realized his dresser was not where it was supposed to be. It was light enough out that he didn't need a light to look around, and when he did, something cold and sick clenched in his gut.
"Where is my stuff?"
"I don't know, man," Dan said. "The place was empty except for the bed when I got here."
Terry fisted his hands, aching to wrap them around Keith's throat. "I'm going to kill him."
That was my bed.
"Uh, this might be a good time to mention I'm a DEA agent."
That surprised Terry enough that he turned to look at the guy. "You're that new DEA agent that moved to town, the one who works with Mike?"
Dan nodded.
"I thought you were staying in one of Chester's apartments?"
"I was, but it was only temporary until I found another place." When Dan waved his hands around the room, Terry saw the cardboard boxes he hadn't noticed before.
He thrust a hand through his hair. "This is so fucked up."
"Hey, man, I'm sorry. I didn't—"
"No, no. It's not your fault. You didn't know."
"I can have my stuff packed and out of here in a couple of hours."
"No, don't do that." Geez, this whole situation was fucked. Terry couldn't kick Dan out into the cold. "You rented this place on good faith. I'm not going to kick you out because my bonehead tenant decided to cash in on your ignorance."
Dan raised an eyebrow. "Want me to shoot him?"
Terry chuckled. "Let's get your rent money from him first. If he doesn't fork it over, then you can shoot him." Terry tried not to look directly at the beautiful naked man as he waved a hand toward him. It wasn't easy. "Why don't you get dressed and we'll go track Keith down."
"I must be losing my touch." Dan chuckled as he turned to grab his jeans. "Beautiful naked man in my bed and he tells me to put my clothes back on."
"Uh..." Terry didn't really have a good response for that.
He turned and went into the bathroom where he remembered undressing the night before. It made his skin crawl to put his dirty, bloody uniform back on, but what other choice did he have? He had no idea where his stuff was.
By the time he got back to the bedroom, Dan was dressed.
Too bad.

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Welcome Marie Medina back to Sunday Spotlight! She's sharing a bit from Caressed by Shadow, the third book in her the Veiled Court series.

Bastiel hasn’t left his own realm to visit the Veiled Court since he was a child. But when he learns he’s fated to the youngest prince, Rory, he resolves to make peace with the Fey of the Light, despite the prejudice he knows he might encounter in the Veiled Court.

Rory didn’t expect to be fated to a man, much less to the King of the Dark Fey. Bastiel introduces himself as if there is no question that they are perfectly matched, but Rory can’t accept that. They don’t know each other at all, and their union would throw the order of both their realms into chaos.

Enchanted from his first glimpse of Rory, Bastiel refuses to give up. Rory has no choice but to face his confusion and misgivings head on, and decide if the pull he feels to Bastiel is worth all the risks and uncertainty that come with it.

Sunday, July 15, 2018

I just wanted to help my Mom out with the Children's Fall Festival. I had no idea I'd be dragged into a mess that would change my entire world. Learning that children in foster care were being abused, and determined to stop it, I jumped in feet first. I had no idea that my decision would drag me through hell. I just had to stay alive long enough for Sal to rescue me.

Salvador

I loved Lany to the depths of my soul, but the messes he got in made me want to wrap my fingers around his pretty little neck. This last one might be the top of the list. When Lany is taken to stop me from investigating a child slavery ring, I have to step outside the boundaries of the law I work so hard to uphold, but it might be the only way to find Lany alive.

He was my entire world. My soul-mate. My reason for breathing. He was the moon and the stars and everything in-between. He was the man I planned to spend all of eternity with.

And I wanted to strangle him.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose and swallowed the groan trying to break free. "Explain it to me again."

Because I was sure I hadn't heard correctly.

Lancaster Delvecchio, or Lany as most people called him, sighed heavily. "I was talking to my Mom and she was telling me about how the vender where they usually hold their annual Children's Fall Festival for a bunch of kids in foster care canceled on them at the last minute so I offered to let her host it here on the estate."

It wasn't so much that the estate couldn't hold a children's festival, because it could. The place was a fortress set on the outskirts of the city. Ten-feet-high stone walls encircled the entire fifteen-acre estate, right to the edge of the river inlet. It would be a great place for a kid's festival.

My headache came from the security nightmare it would entail.

At least it wasn't our anniversary. That was a good three months away. I held out hope that that meant Lany wouldn't be attacked, kidnapped, threatened, shot at, or drive a car.

I'd have to check if elephants were involved.

"What exactly are we talking here?" I asked. "What does a children's festival entail?"

No need to panic until I knew what the plan was.

Then I could panic.

"They have a bunch of activities for kids like sack races, and face painting, and one of those blow up castle things, and they feed the kids hot dogs or something." Lany shrugged. "I'm not sure what kids eat at those things."

"Have you talked this over with Brant?"

Lany's light brown hair flopped over his forehead as he nodded. "He said he'd have to bring in extra security, but Mom's foundation will pay for it."

Uh huh.

We already lived in a place with more security than Fort Knox so I had no idea what Brant meant when he said he had to bring in more security.

I envisioned tanks.

"Mom's foundation will take care of everything. Carmine will do the catering and they will set up a pavilion down by the water for everyone with a bunch of picnic tables. The activates will be set up on the lawn on the east side of the house. And there will be someone to help park the cars and stuff."

"What about bathrooms and things like that?"

"I thought we could designate the guest bathroom off the pool house for that." Lany winced. "I love the idea of helping Mother host this thing, but I really don't want a bunch of strangers in the house."

Neither did I.

"Does that make me a bad person?" Lany asked.

I smiled as I drew Lany into my arms. His heart was in the right place. "No, caro, it makes you human."

We had been through a lot over the years. Kidnappings, attempted assassinations, bomb threats, hostage situations, gangsters, thugs, retrograde amnesia, insane FBI agents, crooked cops, sex traffickers. You name it, and we'd probably dealt with it.

It was a wonder we weren't both in hug-me jackets.

Not wanting strangers in our safe place made Lany more than human in my eyes. It made him smart. We were still getting used to living in a large mansion instead of the two bedroom penthouse apartment Lany's grandparents had given him when he graduated from college, but it was our home now. We lived here with our twin girls. It was important that we all had a safe place to just be us.

Speaking of which... "Where are the girls?" I asked as I lifted my head and glanced around. It was a little too quiet for a house with twenty-two month old twins.

"Napping." Lany chuckled. "They were both acting a little frazzled after lunch so Jenna put them down a little early.

Bless Jenna.

She had proved her worth more than once in the nearly two years she had been watching over our girls. A former Mossad officer, Jenna was both nanny and bodyguard for the twins. I was just lucky her salary was paid for by Vinnie. Neither Lany nor I could afford to pay the woman, even if we combined our salaries.

Most people thought we were rich because we lived on a lavish estate, but we weren't. We lived on what I made as a SWAT commander and Lany made as assistant to the police chief. Our estate had been an even swap with Vinnie, who had originally owned the place, for our penthouse apartment.

Vincenzo Castellano or Vinnie as we called him. Uncle Vinnie to the twins. Technically, he was the biological father of the twins, but only Lany and I knew that. Everyone else assumed we had adopted the girls through an agency and that Vinnie was just a close family friend.

And he was a close friend, even if he used to be an alleged mobster. He had pretty much gotten out of the business over the last couple of years. I knew he still had his fingers in a few pies, because he told me about them, but they seemed somewhat legitimate so I tried not to look too deeply into his business.

Ignorance was bliss in this instance.

"So, can we?"

I was very proud of myself. I did not groan.

AUTHOR BIO

Stormy believes the only thing sexier than a man in cowboy boots is two or three men in cowboy boots. She also believes in love at first sight, soul mates, true love, and happy endings.

You can usually find her cuddled in bed with a book in her hand and a puppy in her lap, or on her laptop, creating the next sexy man for one of her stories. Stormy welcomes comments from readers. You can find her at:

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Once again, I've joined Stormy Glenn and a ton of other amazing MM authors to share a free short story!

The theme this year? Fireworks and old characters. Each story had to include lovers from one of our past stories... and of COURSE I chose ones from Bear Mountain. It was a no brainer!

Check it out on the Manlove Fantasies blog -- AND if you'd like to be entered to win the grand prize of a Kindle loaded with free books from all the authors featured this month (including one from me!), make sure you comment at the bottom of my story with your email address included.

You can only comment on my story TODAY (7/12/2018) but there will be a new story available tomorrow from another one of the Manlove authors... and every day after that through July. You can enter every day if you'd like.

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Welcome Victoria Vallo back to Sunday Spotlight. And Welcome back MARKED -- her Gay Sci-Fi Erotic Short! I don't make a habit of repeating books on Spotlight -- but since Marked is free on Amazon right now (and I had a mistaken hole in my schedule... oops), I figured I'd share :)But don't wait -- it ends tomorrow night, Monday July 9th at 11:59 pm EST!

Connor only wanted a one-night stand but woke up with a mate. He flees, a new life waiting for him at the end of the last leg of his journey.

Rhaegar won’t be satisfied with only one night. His mate chose to run, but Rhaegar intends to catch him. And when he does, he’ll make sure Connor never wants to run away again.

Demuri Consdine stared out over the vastness that was before him. A gentle wind blew, ruffling his hair and more. He shifted his weight, the spear in his hand familiar yet almost uncomfortable.

More and more he’d been drawn down to Earth, intrigued by the goings on of the humans. Not that he was neglecting his duties, not at all. But still, he wanted to learn a bit more about them. Figure out their oddities and why they were as they were.

Now, however, he was enjoying the solitude this spot provided him. Below him moved thick clouds that hid the sharp peaks of the mountains that didn’t reach as high as the perch where he lingered.

He knew that when he sank below the clouds he would be presented with waters of the clearest blue, grasses of iridescent green. Closing his eyes, he allowed his body to fall forward. For the briefest of moments, he didn’t do a damn thing, just fell. The air rushing by him, no longer gentle, but nearly violent as it slammed into him.

At the last minute, he spread his wings and had instant control of his fall, gliding easily over the water to the earth where he settled with ease. Wings settling, he secured his shield and spear so they were hidden from most eyes.

Not that a winged man wouldn’t be cause for alarm to people here, but he was in a place that people didn’t frequent. This wasn’t an area that they could get to you.

Brother? Where are you?

Earth.He sent the response to his fellow Power and brother, Danijel.

What reason do you have for going there?

No reason other than I am intrigued by the goings on of humans.

They are nothing.

We’re there to guide and protect them. How can you think of them as nothing?He allowed his fingers to grace over the tops of the tall grasses as he moved through the untouched meadow.

My job is to keep the pathway safe, keep evil out. Not protect humans. That belongs to the angels and Archangels. I am a warrior.

Which is someone who protects.

Where are you, specifically?

A land they call Tibet. Do you have need of me?

Yes. There is rumor of demon activity in a place called Kansas.

I’ll meet you there.

He spread his wings as soon as he ended the conversation and took to the air with one single powerful beat of his wings. He’d never been to this Kansas but he knew how to get there. His connection to his brothers all allowed them to know where they needed to go. The flight was long but he didn’t care, he was needed. He would be there.

Demuri landed beside his brother in complete silence. Nothing alerted to the world around them when he arrived. Danijel didn’t start, but he’d known how close he was. Danijel was the strongest of the Powers although they were close in ability. He’d been one the longest and their group tended to look to him for guidance and leadership, if it was needed.

His brother stood there, sun shining down on his dark skin, yet still hadn’t any sweat on it, despite the fact they were there in the middle of the day. Currently his brother had braids that alternated dark and light hair and a goatee.

Personally, he sported a close cut beard and moustache, and he couldn’t ignore the simple fact, that he felt a bit winded after the long flight. He’d pushed it needing to be at his brother’s side.

Brother.

Danijel nodded once but didn’t speak. Demuri didn’t force him to say anything—not that he could—and instead followed his gaze to a small farmhouse in the distance. For a moment he looked. It wasn’t the house, no, it was an area before it.

A portal.

To the Powers, demon portals showed an ugly rust hue that boiled and bubbled the closer they were to spewing out creatures from the underworld to reign havoc on the land. Humans could stand on them and not know what lay beneath their feet. Only a few could sense it around them. He’d not seen any of them in centuries with the power to sense the portals.

Most humans now were fixated on small devices in their hands and never once took in the beauty they’d been given around them.

How long has it been like this?

With no more than a mere thought, he called his spear forth, gripping it in his left hand.

Not yet, brother. This has been this way for days now, never changing.

He narrowed his eyes but didn’t put his weapon away. His job was to protect the byways between Heaven and Hell. That meant keeping demons where they belonged, down in Hell.

How does it just remain like that? In all my years I’ve never known one to be actively dormant.

This I am unsure of. I need to check around and close it. There is a human inside. I need you to make sure he doesn’t come out. He’s alone.

And you don’t want to put him to sleep as the demons can access the weaker humans when they are resting to get in to this realm without use of the portals we’re looking at now.

Danijel turned his head and gazed at him, those golden eyes, marks of the Powers, hard and unforgiving. With a ripple, he moved his wings, those incredible silver wings that no other member of the Powers had and lifted himself to hover easily over the ground.

If he must sleep, protect him.

An odd statement from his brother but one he accepted. Danijel didn’t have use for humans on the whole. He merely wished to complete his job and move on to the next place where there was trouble. That and train.

He tracked his brother’s movement across the ground. Every so often he got to see his sibling’s weapon of choice. A chain. He and the rest of the Powers used spears, but Danijel had a chain that he used to fight with. His skill unmatched. He was also well versed in using a spear, but his weapon of choice was the chain.

With an easy beat of his own wings, he too rose in the air, unconcerned if he should be spotted. Around humans he used his power to conceal himself from their gazes. He wasn’t one of the angels they needed to see.

Before the house, he settled with no more than a simple brush of air along the ground. Spear still in hand and ready, he checked the structure for signs of tainting. It wouldn’t do for him to walk into a trap either.

Finding none, he walked through the wall, into the home of this human and instantly was hit with two things. An incredible aroma of food that actually made him hungry and an emotion he’d never experienced before but had heard others speak of. Lust.

In the kitchen stood a man, in blue jeans and a black long sleeve shirt, cooking. Thick brown hair cut short on the sides and in the back was longer on top and Demuri had this urge to touch it, touch him.An urge so powerful he’d taken three steps toward him before he even realized he’d done so.

Hissing, he drew back. The man paused and lifted his head, peering directly at him yet unseeing. Blue eyes slammed him, that same shade as the amazing lake in Tibet he’d just flown over, the purest blue he’d seen. A line of dark scruff followed the chiseled jaw.

“Are you here to kill me?”

The man’s question fell from his mouth, and Demuri realized he’d released his power at keeping himself hidden. Another first for him.